A source close to Umar Sadiq has slammed Steven Gerrard for his treatment of the Rangers flop, claiming the Ibrox boss never took to the lanky striker.
Nigerian forward Sadiq signed on loan from AS Roma last season but was limited to four appearances in a Rangers shirt, three of which were from the bench.
Infamously diving, and failing, to win a penalty in the 1-0 Betfred Cup semi-defeat to Aberdeen, that moment summed up a tumultuous six-months for the striker where he never settled and never scored in Glasgow.
Now, the source has told ESPN that Gerrard had “regular disagreements” with the disappointing striker.
“At Rangers, it was a case of coming with a big reputation after a good six months in Holland,” said the source [ESPN].
“It is hard to explain, but everything just went south for him there. Even he cannot explain it.
“Gerard also never took to his style of play. At one point he was told not to park his car in the same car park with the senior team, the boss saying he was driving an expensive Range Rover, and things like that.
“He had regular disagreements with the manager. He was working hard at training and giving his best but was not getting games and he decided he wanted to leave so the loan deal was terminated.”
Rangers not the right fit for Sadiq but redemption beckons in Belgrade
After leaving Rangers Sadiq spent the latter half of last season on-loan with Perugia in Italy’s Serie B.
However, his three goals in 17 games did little to restore the faith Roma showed in the Nigeria forward when they paid £2m to sign the striker from Spezia in 2016.
Now at Partizan Belgrade, Sadiq has recaptured the sort of form that saw him linked with the likes of Arsenal.
Sadiq has hit 16 goals and laid on a further 12 in only 30 games for Partizan this season. Five of those strikes have come in the Europa League, with four in the group stages.
Those came in the form of two separate braces against Kazakh side Astana.
It’s an extraordinary turnaround for a player once tipped to succeed the legendary Nwankwo Kanu at international level for Nigeria.
Only 22, there’s still plenty of time for Sadiq to reach that level, it just probably won’t be alongside Rangers boss Steven Gerrard.
For whatever reason, this source suggests that the two just did not get on from the off.
